Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-09
JUMPING A CLAIM.

talnS, SAID Jonn SanuerSOn, An ola pros
pector who has his headquarters at FL
Paso, but who makes several incursions
into the mining districts every year.
Half Of them believe in ghosts, nine out
OF ten in signs. and about all of them in
luck. Ny own experience has changed
my views in good many particulars, and,
for one thing. il has made me a firm be-
lever in special providences. 1t didn't
come about gradually, but through as
marvellous escape from an awful death rs
believe ever falls to men.
1t happened up in the Mimbres noun
tains four years ago this summer. The
Mimbres lie in New Mexico, down below
old Fort Tule Rosa, and they must be full
of gold somewhere, because the beds of
the creeks that find their way down the
sides are SO rich in placer digginSs that
you can't pull up a sage brush around
there without seeing bright specks among
the roots. had a pet theory then that il
you followed the creeks up high enough
and looked close enough you would find q
deposit Of gold in decomposed
quartz. thought, you see. that a little
of it had washed of the surface in the
course Of time and formed those places
What wanted to find WAS the mother
mine.
II talked the thing up to Charley
Burke. another prospector and friend Of
mine, until he agreed to put up half the
outfit and join me in the search. We got
. couple of burros. the necessary tools, and
started early in the spring. The country
about the Mimbres is about As wild and
desolate as any on earth, and it was q trip
that nothing but faith and enthusiasm
would prompt a man to attempt. 1t was
one succession Of gorges. gulches and ac-
all strewn with granite bowlders
from the size Of a mans hand TO four
story block, and often We were obliged to
leave the water course We were follow
ing and make detours that took days ut q
time
The creek we followed was almost
dry, and We stopped frequently looking
for placers. We found no very rich ones,
but everywhere there was gold. Some
times there would be lots Of it in the bot
tom of the tin cup after We had taken q
drink. and sometimes-here is a curious
would be floating on the surface.
I will let some one who is better posted in
science than tell why gold now and then
floats. but 1 only know that little flakes
Of it do, and q lot of it is lost in sluice
that way. As Ions as We found
placers We knew that the main deposit
was ahead. SO We pushed along, tired
enough but confident At last We came
to a spot where the sand was barren for
several days journey, and then We began
to prospect the country all around. To
make long story short, we struck a ledge
one morning with Outcroppings that crum-
bled under my pick and showed quartz all
streaked with yellow threads Charley
yelled out, all afire at once, we have
struck it,
But before we sunk . shaft we found
else that sent our hesrts to our
1t was an old shaft. back little
ways. and in q claim. properly staked
,ut. that covered that very ledge. There
Was Q notification, according to law, on
,ne Of the posts. that Peter Sumner and
Joseph Klautzy had taken possession
of the Big Six and done the legal assess
ment work l sat right down and col
Iapsed. but Charley went over To the shaft
and came back TO tell me that it did not
cover half the amount necessary, under
The law, to hold the property for year.
We measured it, and, sure enough, it was
only down about half the required dis
lance, SO We took possession Of the prop
erty, changed its name to The Treasury
and went to work.
I'VE built ourselves . rough shanty,
rigged up q windlsss and began to sink.
In q few days we were into . formation
rich enough to make q mans head swim
and getting better as we went down. We
we're both so excited that We begrudged
the time to sleep and eat, and We neither
of us meditated for an instant giving the
claim up to anybody, assessment work or
no assessment work. What had become
Of the two men was a mystery. They had
left no trace except the notification board
and shaft, and it gave me the creeps now
and then to think that they might be
dead. But we were not in frame OF
mind TO let sentiment interfere with busi-
ness.
Il suppose we had been there for a
couple of weeks when provisions began to
run short. We didn't want to both leave
The claim at once. so it was finally ar
ranged that Charley go down to the creek
TO q camp about fifty miles away and
bring supply. He took both burros and
started of 1 calculated it would take
him week to make the trip. and time
hung heavy on my hands. Itried to work
\ little on the shaft The formation was
very hard. and We had rugged up a sort Of
ladder Iwould go down this,
fill the bucket, climb to the surface and
pull it up.
AT about noon Of the second day after
he left was startled at what l thought
was a man crossing little gulCh half n
mile away. | only had view OF 1t be
tween two rocks, and, whatever il was,
passed SO quickly that l was not sure.
However, waited for a couple Of hours,
and thea seeing nothing further, con-
cluded Was mistaken, and l went down
into the shaft l filled the bucket with
very heavy ore, climbed up and had il
bout half raised when man came walk
Ing up the creek bed toward me. Then ]
knew that WAS right before.
"He was an ugly looking customer, big
and bravny, with Q fat, Scandinavian
face. and carried Q Winchester on his arm.
I had Little stick that slipped into the
windlass handle near the axle to keep it
from turning backward, and, leaving the
bucket just where it was, suspended half
way up. / started toward the cabin TO get
NV arms he cOSereu me Will MS Ic-
peating rifle. and ordered me to halt.
What are you doing Oh my claim'
he said.
~ reckon you can see, replied, put
ting as good q face Oh it As l possibly
could.
You mean you've jumped it, you
cursed thiefr
NO; I don't. There wasn't enough
work on it to hold it, and it was as much
mine Us anybo6y's.'
".YOu lie'
.'He looked at me over the sights with
his wicked, greenish eyes for full min
ute. Then he said:
did you ever pray'
Yes, faltered.
".Then pray now. III give you two
minutes to do it,
by that time my mind was clear
enough to take in the whole situation, and
had no doubt but he intended to murder
me then and there. With me out Of the
way, there would be no one to testify to
the insufficient work and would simply
be regarded, if the story of my death was
evar told aS q claim iumper who had been